Tag Archive | "gross domestic product"

The magic in pinnacle careers is the global good. Pinnacle careers are good for us as individuals, good for the nation and good for the global economy. The Wall Street Journal article “America Needs to Rethink Retirement – Unleashing the economic power of older workers is essential for U.S. prosperity” by Nicholas Eberstadt and Michael W. Hodin shows why.

The article shows why and when it begins: With declining birthrates throughout much of the world, humanity is getting older.

Aging US Population Pyramid (click on image to enlarge).

The article shows that: The American population is aging too (median age: just under 38), though more slowly thanks to immigration and a relatively high birthrate (almost two births per woman, in contrast to Japan’s 1.2-1.4). But this won’t last forever. The U.S. should adapt now or risk being less prosperous and competitive in the 21st century.

Research suggests that keeping older workers engaged in the economy will directly boost gross domestic product.

There is also mounting evidence that working later into life correlates with better individual health and satisfaction, and may contribute to them. Amid skyrocketing age-related health-care costs, this advantage can scarcely be overstated.

How about that! The global economy needs pinnacle careers. Earning more income, not only helps us have greater satisfaction, better health, but helps strengthen the global economy.

Writer’s Camps – Recorded on MP3

Learn how to learn how to wrote and self publish from our recorded Writer’s Camp…

Seven P Secrets of Self Publishing

When you write, you can work anywhere.

Here I am working poolside in the winter, at our Florida farm.

Here I am with our hound Ma, working during the summer at our North Carolina farm.

Learn how to earn everywhere, while living anywhere you choose. I have been able to earn by writing in Hong Kong, England, the Isle of Man, Dominican Republic and Ecuador to name a few of the place I have lived. Everywhere I have been… too numerous to share here, I have been able to work.

All I need is my laptop.

That’s all you need too… a laptop to be free!

Before computers, a pencil and pad did the job.

Freedom is just one benefit you can gain from writing.

Another benefit is income. Writing has brought me both our farms, free and clear… plus a lot more.

Another good example of earning potential is my friend Hugh Howey. He was working for $10 an hour in a book store when he self published his novel Wool, typing in a storage room during his lunch breaks.

Soon he was earning over $100,000 a month on Amazon.com. This helped secure a six-figure book deal from Simon & Schuster, and an option for film by Ridley Scott, director of Blade Runner and Alien.

That’s what he’s doing now.

Sometimes Hugh and I get together at my farm and play chess (he beats me badly).

Writers like High are great inspirations.

A couple of years ago Hugh left Florida, and moved to South Africa. He had a sailing catamaran built for him and now can sail the world while he continues to write.

Hugh explained it like this: And that’s the miracle of working as a writer: I can do it from anywhere and everywhere. The past few years, I’ve done a lot of writing from airplanes and airports while on business trips abroad. SAND was entirely written overseas while traveling through seven different countries; I think it’s a better story because of those inspirations. In upcoming years, I may be writing near your home port.

Hugh’s a super star writer and his success could not happen to a more deserving and talented person. He pours enormous energy into being worthy of his readership. But you do not have to be a million dollar a year earner or a traveler to benefit from writing.

The good news is… you do not need a huge success to have a rich and fulfilled lifestyle. Self Publishing can bring you a life that most people only dream of, as a journeyman writer, instead of a super star.

May I hastily add that the path to stardom begins as a journeyman… so the journeyman’s path brings success without stardom… but can also lead to stardom.

What most success stories like Hugh’s rarely explain is the many hours of writing that was devoted before their self published book sales soared. Hugh, like most writers were journeymen first. Stardom came later.

Here are sevens secrets that can help you become a journeyman writer.

The secrets are a writer’s armory of tools that allows almost anyone to create successful publications for income, freedom and fulfillment.

Take Merri’s and my publishing business as an example.

Merri and I are not writing stars. We are journeymen who have for more than 40 years, year in and year out, earned solid income writing and self publishing dozens of publications about multiple subjects.

Some years that income has been more than solid… over a million dollars. Yet in terms of stardom, we are hardly known.

In a moment you’ll see why that’s fine for us and probably will be for you too.

First some history.

Merri became involved in self publishing over 40 years ago… first helping a veterinarian publish a book on a very specific market… animal acupuncture. Then she showed a needle point artist how to sell more books to an even more specific audience… “needle point enthusiasts” about her needle point work to an audience larger than the population of the city she lived in. This led Merri to eventually become Executive Editor of an award winning magazine in Florida.

My story allowed Merri and me to work and live from Hong Kong to London to Europe to Eastern Europe, then the Caribbean and then Ecuador… making millions in the process of following our adventures… having fun… while helping a large readership adapt to a rapidly changing world.

That’s what self publishing can bring, profit, adventure and fulfillment, a great feeling of worth and wonder.

Self Publishing has created exactly the lifestyle we desire allowing us to span the world and work with meaning and purpose.

Self Publishing has become a new business art form.

The seven secrets can help you start your own self publishing business now.

Everything in publishing is new and exciting and changing. Publishing is being recreated by the wonderful power of destructive technology.

Everything is new… except the seven secrets.

Change in the publishing industry is disturbing many. We love this evolution due to these seven secrets we call the 7Ps. The 7 Ps are so fundamental to writing and publishing that new technology enhances rather than reduces their power.

The First P is Passion.

Whatever your passion, you can immerse yourself in it AND create income with self publishing. This can be your direct ticket to the kind of fulfillment you’ve always wanted.

Whether you want to travel the world or live as a recluse, work 12 hours a day or not work much at all, you can set your schedule to succeed, if you’re willing to learn these seven secrets.

You can start part-time with any dream, passion, and budget. Once you’ve created a product, you’ll enjoy the “multiple effect” of producing profits over and over again.

So the question is… What do you love to do?

What’s Your Passion: An example is that thirty years ago, a client of Merri’s had a passion to help people who were in pain? He published a series of pamphlets explaining various chiropractic disorders in very simple terms. For example: “What Is Whiplash?”

The pamphlets contained solid information, but were simple 5″ x 7″ brochures with drawings and explanations. He sold them with a rack to chiropractors, who put them in their offices for patients to read. These little self-published items sold year in and year out for decades.

There are thousands of ideas of this sort that can lead to big business. It’s just a matter of defining and then acting on your passion.

Although I can work when I please and go where I wish, for me the most important reason for being a publisher is the satisfaction it brings.

I love the projects I take on, so work doesn’t feel like, well… work.

What do you love? If you love golf, then you can write and sell publications about golf. Love travel, fishing, dogs, dolls, or art? Write and sell publications in these fields.

Are you concerned about crime, war, poverty or environmental issues? You can publish information products that help reduce these concerns.

Would you like to help the world be a more spiritual place? Publish a newsletter, write a book (or hire someone to write it for you), record a tape… publish something that enlightens people.

Whatever your passion, you can immerse yourself in it and earn income by publishing for ereaders, print on demand, CDs, lists, bound books, or any format you choose.

Be immersed in your passion and get paid well for it.

This is why stardom is not the main goal for most writers and self publishers. Extra income, more freedom and fulfillment are usually more than enough enough.

The seven Ps are:

#1: Passion

#2: Problem

#3: Person

#4: Profitably Priced Product

#5: Prospecting Pathway

#6: Promise

#7: Presentation

The first time I exposed others to the secrets in Self Publishing was in a weekend “Writer’s Camp” seminar. We offered the camp for $1,500. 80 delegates enrolled. People from all walks of life attended—chiropractors, businessmen, investors, doctors, realtors, inventors, airline pilots, engineers, and housewives.

Merri and I were so overwhelmed by the response, we decided to make it available to a larger audience. We created a written course based on our current self publishing activity called “Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher.” Then we recorded the weekend “Writer’s Camp” seminar.

Thousands have used the course as it has evolved over the decades.

You can receive both the written course and the recorded weekend seminar, in an MP3 file, in a special “Live Well and Free Anywhere” program I am making available to you. The normal fee is $299 for the written course and $299 for the recorded workshop. I’ll send you both the course and the recorded workshop and my course “International Business Made EZ (also $299) all for $299. You save $598.

We are so confident that you’ll gain from this offer that if you are not fully satisfied, simply email us within 60 days for a full refund .

These courses are not theoretical. They describe, step-by-step, how Merri and I built a million-dollar international business and how we are running this self publishing business right now. We use the 7Ps today just as we did four decades ago to create a strong annual income.

This correspondence course is for those who would like their own international self publishing micro business for fun and profit. If you want fun, freedom, extra income and fulfillment with your own full or part time writing or want to build your existing business, by writing to sell you can profit from this course. The course can help who want their own business or who want to have a business together or a family business. This is the perfect course for those who can no longer find employment, who are looking for ways to earn abroad and who wish to retire and supplement their income.

Whether you are retired, an investor, chiropractor, doctor, dentist, professional or already own your own business, this offers another way to make money, to turn your passion into profit. We guarantee that we have shared all we know to help you start and run your own international business. Enjoy and live a life of following your Passion to Profit… through writing.

Here is a special offer.

We provide two emailed courses “Self Fulfilled – How to Write to Sell and be a Self Publisher” and “International Business Made EZ”.

We include the “Self Fulfilled Writing and Self Publishing Course” because there are two reasons to write, when you have something to say or when you have something to sell. In this day and age many of us want to do both, make a statement that makes the world a better place and earn something extra in the process.

Whatever your passion, however you do business, chances are you’ll be writing either to create a product or to sell a product.

You save more than $598 because you also receive a recorded webinar conducted by our webmaster David Cross (at no extra cost).

David Cross

David has been our webmaster since our website began in the 1990s. He is Merri’s and my business partner. We could not run our business as we do without him.

Learn the tactics we use in our web business that condenses 27 years of practical experience about search engine optimization, and writing for search engines.

For the last 27 years David has worked with companies large and small – IBM, Agora Publishing, AstraZeneca and many small business owners. He has worked in 22 countries, and lived in six of them.

David’s clients span the globe and represent companies and charities both large and small. From corporate giants to small, one-woman businesses and everything from finance, healthcare, publishing, technology, real estate, veterinarians, alternative health centers and everything in between.

David is an essential part of our web based business.

Myles Norin, CEO of Agora, Inc. wrote: “I have found David’s knowledge and experience unmatched in the industry. Without David’s expertise and guidance for the past 7 years, we would not be nearly as successful as we are.”

As Senior Internet Consultant to Agora Inc. in Baltimore, MD, he worked closely with Agora’s publishers and marketers and – over a 7-year period – helped to propel Agora’s online revenues from around $20 million to well over $300 million.

David’s webinar will help you gain benefits in your micro business that large internet marketing companies use. In this practical recorded workshop you will learn valuable skills to help your micro business.

There has never been a time when the opportunity for small businesses abroad has been so outstanding. Expand your borders now! Increase your economic security freedom, independence and success.

If you are not fully satisfied that this offers you enormous value simply email us for a full refund within 60 days. You can keep all three courses as our thanks for giving our courses a try.

You also receive a report “How to use Relaxed Concentration to Brainstorm Business Ideas” and a recorded workshop “How to Become and Remain Rich With Relaxed Concentration” at no additional cost.

Plus you get more in the program.

You receive regular writing and self publishing updates for a year. Businesses usually need to evolve. Merri and I continue to publish and have our independent businesses. Some basics have remained for decades, but new strategies occur all the time throughout the year. We’ll be sending along updates that share our most recent experiences as we learn and continue to grow our international micro business from Smalltown USA.

My special offer to you in this “Live Well and Free Anywhere Program”, is that you receive:

“International Business Made EZ” course

“Self Fulfilled – How to Write to Sell” course

Video Workshop by our webmaster David Cross,

The entire weekend “Writer’s Camp” in MP3,

MP3 Workshop “How to Gain Added Success With Relaxed Concentration”

Any updates to any of the courses, workshops, reports or recordings for a year.

We are so confident that you’ll gain from this offer that if you are not fully satisfied, simply email us within the first three months for a full refund .

There is expanded international business and opportunity because wage earners and retirees in most of the Western world are being set up. This can create great international business and investing opportunity for you.

In a moment see why this Ecuador property offers such good value.

Whether this “set up” is on purpose, or not, is a subject of lively contention… but the intention doesn’t really matter much. The results… created innocently or intentionally will be the same. Disaster for the middle class. However opportunities in international business, investing and lifestyles mean that you do not have to share in the loss.

We can begin to understand this fact with three simple thoughts.

The first thought is that the US is currently experiencing deflation. You can see from this graph from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The December 2008 message Multi Currency Inflation at this site, asked the question… will there be inflation or deflation.

Now we know.

The second thought is that the deflationary forces are creating inflationary fundamentals like we have never seen before. The inflation stage is set. This is a formula that means disaster for most… but this does not have to apply to you.

One reader just wrote: I’m thinking a ‘creative way’ to fix a problem and work through one’s passion will not handle the whole situation. I hope I’m wrong and you have an even better idea. Medicine and doctors. Savings stripped. Destruction of people’s lives and stability. All done with intention.

The dollar is going down the toilet, and the best option I see the Fed and Government taking (for themselves, not for us) is to have a debit system. The debit system would pay people, and would pay others from the people’s account. People would no longer research to save taxes. Their accounts would automatically be debited with whatever the government deems able to be taken. The funds would filter through the Central Bank to be certain the funds are going only where the government it should go.

There is no more representative republic. There is no more self determinism. There are no more freedoms as you can be controlled through your debit card. If government decides you are an ‘unworthy person’ they can easily take all of your nest egg. If Congress can so thoroughly devastate us overnight one time, they can do it again. I have a real hard time thinking about a creative way to generate income. I trust not a congressman. I certainly do not trust the current administration. I don’t think they’re through with us. Best Wishes to you Gary.

Many readers share thoughts like this. I know that so many of you are suffering. Yet I must say: economics will get worse. Fortunately they will then get better.

This leads us to the third thought… which is “the common person who will bear the brunt of the upcoming inflation.”

Yet you do not have to suffer.

A USA Today article “Wages could hit steepest plunge in 18 years by Dennis Cauchon and Paul Overberg” explains the problem. Here is an excerpt: A bad economy and low inflation are starting to drag down wages for millions of everyday workers and freeze benefits for millions of retirees. Average weekly wages have fallen 1.4% this year for private-sector workers through September, after adjusting for inflation, to $616.11, a USA TODAY analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data found. If that trend holds, it will mark the biggest annual decline in real wages since 1991. “Wages are usually the last thing to deteriorate in a recession,” says economist Heidi Shierholz of the liberal Economic Policy Institute. “But it’s happening now, and wages are probably going to be held down for a long time.”

Yet falling income for wage earners and retirees is meeting huge potential inflation according to the October 16, 2009 New York Times article “$1.4 Trillion Deficit Complicates Stimulus Plans” by Jackie Calmes.

Here is an excerpt: The Obama administration said Friday that the federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that just ended was $1.4 trillion, nearly a trillion dollars greater than the year before and the largest shortfall relative to the size of the economy since 1945. The shortfall for the fiscal year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, translates to 10 percent of the economy. Economists generally agree that annual deficits should not exceed 3 percent of the G.D.P., and that is the level President Obama had vowed to reach by the end of his first term in 2013. At 10 percent of the gross domestic product, the 2009 deficit is the highest since the end of World War II, when it was 21.5 percent. At the same time, many Americans are demanding further help, confronting forecasts that job losses will not peak until mid-2010. Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican minority leader in the House, rejected that position. “It is irresponsible for Democrats to continue spending taxpayers’ money we don’t have to fund an agenda that would destroy the jobs we need to get our economy moving again,” Mr. Boehner said.

The problem looks even worse according to another October 16 2009 USA Today article entitled “Obama team makes it official: Budget deficit hits record. By a lot.” Excerpts say: The Obama administration has released new deficit numbers, and they are not pretty. The deficit for Fiscal Year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, came in at a record $1.42 trillion, more than triple the record set just last year. In addition, future deficits are currently projected to total $9.1 trillion in the coming decade.

Yet while the wage earner suffers… others are becoming rich according to an October 17, 2009 New York Tines article entitled “Bailout Helps Fuel a New Era of Wall Street Wealth” by Graham Bowley.

Excerpts say: Even as the economy continues to struggle, much of Wall Street is minting money, many Americans wonder how this can possibly be. How can some banks be prospering so soon after a financial collapse, even as legions of people worry about losing their jobs and their homes? It may come as a surprise that one of the most powerful forces driving the resurgence on Wall Street is not the banks but Washington. Many of the steps that policy makers took last year to stabilize the financial system — reducing interest rates to near zero, bolstering big banks with taxpayer money, guaranteeing billions of dollars of financial institutions’ debts — helped set the stage for this new era of Wall Street wealth. A year after the crisis struck, many of the industry’s behemoths — those institutions deemed too big to fail — are, in fact, getting bigger, not smaller. Now, the industry has new tools at its disposal, courtesy of the government. With interest rates so low, banks can borrow money cheaply and put those funds to work in lucrative ways, whether using the money to make loans to companies at higher rates, or to speculate in the markets. Fixed-income trading — an area that includes bonds and currencies — has been particularly profitable.

Here is why you do not have to suffer and can profit like the big banks.

Messages at this site have repeatedly shown that four ways to beat inflation are to invest in equities, real estate, your own business and commodities.

Commodities are riskiest in the deflationary times.

Equities have skyrocketed this year… as have bonds treated like equities.

This is as an excerpt from a recent update in our Multi Currency course shows that 61% of my liquid portfolio is in bonds!

Our emailed course “Tangled Webs We Weave – How to Have Your Own Web Based Business” is a continuing educational program. You receive the first 28 lessons when you enroll and a new lesson every week or two.

This course teaches how to create a web based business and is developed from the ongoing experiences that we have from our successful and profitable internet business.

This course is well worth the enrollment fee of $299… but currently you also receive two additional courses FREE.

The other two courses are #1: International Business Made EZ, and #2: Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher.

These two courses have sold for $398 and thousands have paid this price. We add them to your course, at no added cost, as I believe they will help you develop a better business in these crucial times..

Even Better Get All three Courses Free

To make this offer even more compelling, I am giving everyone who enrolls in all our seminars or tours for any one month, October, November or December, “Tangled Web… How to Have an Internet Business Course,” “Self Fulfilled- How to be a Self Publisher” and “International Business Made EZ” free.

Inflation is coming and will hit wage earners and retirees hardest of all. Yet you can succeed. We look forward to sharing ideas on how to succeed with real estate, multi currency bonds and equities and your own business.

We have been conducting Ecuador real estate tours for a decade longer than any others. Our success has grown because we do not accept commissions on Ecuador estate shown on these tours. Our goal is to help you know how to find the best deals on Ecuador real estate.

The pictures below show some of the property we’ll view on the Ecuador real estate tours.

Delegates see two and three bedroom Andean condos like this.

with views like this…

In the $50,000 range.

Large square footage, fixer upper’s like this…

with large gardens and …

this view are offered at…

$30,000… asking.

We see luxury townhouses at $75,000

We view mansions…

inside and…

out.

Gated communities are visited.

Coastal land, houses and condos on the beach… near the beach and with views are seen.

We see beach front penthouses with these views.

Ultimate luxury…

Ecuador beach properties are…

seen.

Plus rustic houses with…

perfect beach position are found. I am told that a delegate purchased this house on our last tour.

Here it that rustic house, on the right of Merri and me walking the beach with a friend and our hound.

These brand new beach view condos are $89,000 (some of these units for sale are mine and are offered at $79,000 for Ecuador Living subscribers).

We see luxury condos but also rustic beach B&B opportunities like the one below at $60,000… asking.

We’ll even see commercial Ecuador real estate opportunity like this hotel… and

New micro internet business opportunities arise all the time… Your own small internet business is a great way to make money… but there is something more.

Morning on Cotacachi Ecuador’s plaza may be foggy but the economy is sunny and bright… and

I was sitting on our balcony at our hotel Inn Land of the Sun (formerly Meson de las Flores) in Cotacachi Ecuador… looking at the sunrise view.

Mt. Cotacachi was on my left.

Mt. Imbabura on my right.

The time was 5:36 am and I began my first round of answering my email.

The first note opened had the subject Om Bir and the email said: Hello sir, Nameste. T his is lalit from Nepal. i m working from two yrs. in roses. as a farm supervisor. we are exporting roses to japan.i’ll write you more about company.looking forward your reply. lalit kathmandu

What a wonderful way to start the day… I am in a small mountain village getting blessings from someone in mountains half way around the world. Namaste means “may that which is in God be within you.”

We offer a course to help our readers start their own web business. This freedom not only makes life more enjoyable but also reduces the cost of living.

Technology brings us so many blessings… the things we take for granted… air travel… electricity… computers… cars… the internet… would be considered miracles for 99% of mankind that has existed.

Yet we can with the push of a button gain blessings… and business from around the world.

This is why we are sharing a free course on how to create your own website without a webmaster written by Michelle Toole. Here is the 38th lesson in this course.

What’s HARO? By Michelle Toole

So you’re interested in starting your own self publishing business on the internet? Or maybe you have a book that you wrote and want to make a name for yourself? Well, I have a great tip for you…..actually, it’s a great tip for anybody wanting to establish themselves as an expert and this will help you build your own ‘brand of one.’

Editors, as Merri always reminds us, are “always looking for content” and the same goes for reporters, bloggers, radio hosts and pod cast hosts. So, how do you connect with editors, reporters, bloggers, radio hosts and pod cast hosts that need you? Good Question….

And I have a great answer…. HARO. What’s HARO?

HARO stands for ‘Help a Reporter Out’, a web site (helpareporter.com) started by Peter Shankman and it is an excellent resource for those of us trying to build our own ‘brand of one.’

According to Peter, “I built this list because a lot of my friends are reporters, and they call me all the time for sources. Rather than go through my contact lists each time, I figured I could push the requests out to people who actually have something to say. These requests only come from reporters directly to me.”

Once you sign up to Peter’s web site you will get 3 emails each day. Each email will include a list of reporters, bloggers, radio hosts and pod cast hosts looking for sources for their stories. Of course it’s not likely that you will find someone looking for your expertise on a daily basis, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you find something every other month. It’s certainly worth your time and the best way to build your ‘brand of one’ is to put yourself out there.

Good Luck and happy Branding!…

You can check out Michelle’s web site at http://healthy-holistic-living.com and http://home-remedies-and-natural-cures.com. To get more great tips, like the ones above and to see how and what tools she used to create a successful on-line business go to http://sitesell-sbi.comInternat Business Ideas

The sun always shines somewhere. Because many Americans are headed south… business is suffering in the north… but getting better n the sun!

Gary

The greatest asset of all is the ability to labor at what you love wherever you live. This brings everlasting wealth.

How We Can Serve You

How to Have Real Safety

There are only three reasons why we should invest. We invest for income. We invest to resell our investments for more than we had invested. We invest to make our world a better place.

We should not invest for fun, excitement or to get rich quick, or in a panic due to market corrections.

This is why the core Pi model portfolio (that forms the bulk of my own equity portfolio) consists of 19 shares and this position has not changed in over two years. During these two years we have been steadily accumulating the same 19 shares and have not traded once.

The portfolio has done well in 2017, up 22.6%, better than the DJI Index.

However one or even two year’s performance is not enough data to create a safe strategy.

The good value portfolio above is based entirely on good value financial information and mathematically based safety programs developed around models that date back 91 and 24 years.

The Pifolio is a theoretical portfolio of MSCI Country Benchmark Index ETFs that cover all the good value markets developed combining my 50 years of investing experience with study of the mathematical market value analysis of Keppler Asset Management and the mathematical trend analysis of Tradestops.com.

In my opinion, Keppler is one of the best market statisticians in the world. Numerous very large fund managers, such as State Street Global Advisers, use his analysis to manage over $2.5 billion of funds.

The Pifolio analysis begins with Keppler who continually researches international major stock markets and compares their value based on current book to price, cash flow to price, earnings to price, average dividend yield, return on equity and cash flow return. He compares each major stock market’s history.

Michael Kepler CEO Keppler Asset Management.

Michael is a brilliant mathematician. We have tracked his analysis for over 20 years. He continually researches international major stock markets and compares their value based on current book to price, cash flow to price, earnings to price, average dividend yield, return on equity and cash flow return. He compares each stock market’s history. From this, he develops his Good Value Stock Market Strategy and rates each market as a Buy, Neutral or Sell market. His analysis is rational, mathematical and does not cause worry about short term ups and downs. Keppler’s strategy is to diversify into an equally weighted portfolio of the MSCI Indices of each BUY market.

This is an easy, simple and effective approach to zeroing in on value because little time, management and guesswork is required. You are investing in a diversified portfolio of good value indices.

A BUY rating for an index does NOT imply that any stock in that country is an attractive investment, so you do not have to spend hours of research aimed at picking specific shares. It is not appropriate or enough to instruct a stockbroker to simply select stocks in the BUY rated countries. Investing in the index is like investing in all the shares in the index. You save time because all you have to do is invest in the ETF to gain the profit potential of the entire market.

To achieve this goal of diversification the Pifolio consists of Country Index ETFs.

Country Index ETFs are similar to an index mutual fund but are shares normally traded on a major stock exchange that tracks an index of shares in a specific country. ETFs do not try to beat the index they represent. The management is passive and tries to emulate the performance of the index.

A country ETF provides diversification into a basket of equities in the country covered. The expense ratios for most ETFs are lower than those of the average mutual fund as well so such ETFs provide diversification and cost efficiency.

30% of the Pifolio is invested in Keppler’s good value (BUY rated) emerging markets: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan.

The Pifolio consists of iShares ETFs that invested in each of the MSCI indicies of the good value BUY markets.

For example, the iShares MSCI Australia (symbol EWA) is a Country Index ETF that tracks the investment results the Morgan Stanley Capital Index MSCI Australia Index which is composed mainly of large cap and small cap stocks traded primarily on the Australian Stock Exchange mainly of companies in consumer staples, financials and materials. This ETF is non-diversified outside of Australia.

iShares is owned by Black Rock, Inc. the world’s largest asset manager with over $4 trillion in assets under management.

Pi uses math to reveal the best value markets then protects its positions using more math created by Richard Smith founder and CEO of Tradestops.com to track each share’s trend.

We use Smith’s algorithms that calculate momentum of the good value markets.

The Stock State Indicators at Tradestops.com act as a full life-cycle measure that indicates the health of each stock. They are designed to tell you at a glance exactly where any stock stands relative to Dr. Smith’s proprietary algorithms.

Kepppler’s analysis shows the value of markets. The SSI signal indicates the current trend of each stock (performing well, or in a period of correction, or stopped out).

The SSI tells you one of five things:

Akey component of the Stock State Indicator (SSI) system is momentum based on the latest 521 days of trading. A stock changes from red to green in the SSI system only after it has already gone up a healthy amount and has started a solid uptrend.

How SSI Alerts Are Triggered

If the position has already moved more than its Volatility Quotient below a recent high, the SSI Stop Loss will trigger. This is an indicator that the position has corrected more than what is normal for this stock. It means to take caution.

Below is an example of how SSIs work. This example shows the Developed Market Pifolio that we track at Tradestops.com.

Equal Weight Good Value Developed Market Pifolio.

At the time this example was copied, all the ETFs in the Developed Market Pifolio (above) currently had a green SSI.

We do not know when the US market will fall. We only do know that it will. We also do not know if, when the US market corrects, global markets will follow or rise instead.

The fact that the Pifilios are invested in good value markets reduces long term risk.

Additional protection is added by using trailing stops based on the 521 day momentum of each stock in the Pifolio.

Take for example the graph below from our Tradestops account that shows the iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF. This ETF had a green SSI and a Volatility Index (VQ) of 13.26%. This means the share can move 13.26% before there is a trend shift.

iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (Symbol EWU)

Pi purchased the share at$31.26 and in this example the share was $34.43 and rising. Tradestop’s algorithms suggested that if the price drops to $31.69 its momentum would have stopped and it would have shifted into trading sideways. The stop loss price is currently $29.86. If EWU continues to rise, both the yellow warning and the stop loss price will rise as well.

When the US stock market bull ends, know one knows for sure how long or how severe the correction will be.

When the bear arrives, what will happen to global and especially good value markets?

No one knows the answer to this question.

What we do know is that the equally weighted, good value market Pifolios have the greatest potential long term and that math based trailing stops can be used to protect against a secular global stock market correction when it comes.

My fifty years of global investing experience helps take advantage of numerous long term cycles that are part of the universal math that affects all investments.

What you get when you subscribe to Pi.

You immediately receive a 120 page basic training course that teaches the Pi Strategy. You learn all the Pi strategies, what they are, how to use them and what each can do for you, your lifestyle and investing.

You also begin receiving regular emailed Pifiolio updates and online access to all the Pifolio updates of the last two years. Each update examines the current activity in a Pifolio, how it is changing, why and how the changes might help your investing or not.

Included in the basic training is an additional 120 page PDF value analysis of 46 stock markets (23 developed markets and 23 emerging stock markets). This analysis looks at the price to book, price to earnings, average yield and much more.

You also receive two special reports.

In the 1980s, a remarkable set of two economic circumstances helped anyone who spotted them become remarkably rich. Some of my readers made enough to retire. Others picked up 50% currency gains. Then the cycle ended. Warren Buffett explained the importance of this ending in a 1999 Fortune magazine interview. He said: Let me summarize what I’ve been saying about the stock market: I think it’s very hard to come up with a persuasive case that equities will over the next 17 years perform anything like—anything like—they’ve performed in the past 17!

I did well then, but always thought, “I should have invested more!” Now those circumstances have come together and I am investing in them again.

The circumstances that created fortunes 30 years ago were an overvalued US market (compared to global markets) and an overvalued US dollar. The two conditions are in place again!

30 years ago, the US dollar rose along with Wall Street. Profits came quickly over three years. Then the dollar dropped like a stone, by 51% in just two years. A repeat of this pattern is growing and could create up to 50% extra profit if we start using strong dollars to accumulate good value stock market ETFs in other currencies.

This is the most exciting opportunity I have seen since we started sending our reports on international investing ideas more than three decades ago. The trends are so clear that I have created a short, but powerful report “Three Currency Patterns for 50% Profits or More.” This report shows how to earn an extra 50% from currency shifts with even small investments. I kept the report short and simple, but included links to 153 pages of Good Value Stock Market research and Asset Allocation Analysis.

The report shows 20 good value investments and a really powerful tactic that shows the most effective and least expensive way to accumulate these bargains in large or even very small amounts (less than $5,000). There is extra profit potential of at least 50% so the report is worth a lot.

This report sells for $29.95 but in this special offer, you receive the report, “Three Currency Patterns for 50% Profits or More” FREE when you subscribe to Pi.

Plus get the $39.95 report “The Platinum Dip 2018” free.

With investors watching global stock markets bounce up and down, many missed two really important profit generating events over the last two years. The price of silver dipped below $14 an ounce as did shares of the iShares Silver ETF (SLV). The second event is that the silver gold ratio hit 80, compared to a ratio of 230 only two years before.

In September 2015, I prepared a special report “Silver Dip 2015” about a silver speculation, leveraged with a British pound loan, that could increase the returns in a safe portfolio by as much as eight times. The tactics described in that report generated 62.48% profit in just nine months.

I have updated this report and added how to use the Dip Strategy with platinum. The “Platinum Dip 2018” report shares the latest in a series of long term lessons gained through 40 years of speculating and investing in precious metals. I released the 2015 report, when the gold silver ratio slipped to 80. The ratio has corrected and that profit has been taken and now a new precious metals dip has emerged.

I have prepared a new special report “Platinum Dip 2018” about a leveraged speculation that can increase the returns in a safe portfolio by as much as eight times.

You also learn from the Value Investing Seminar, our premier course, that we have been conducting for over 30 years. Tens of thousands of delegates have paid up to $999 to attend. Now you can join the seminar online FREE in this special offer.

This three day course is available in sessions that are 10 to 20 minutes long for easy, convenient learning. You can listen to each session any time and as often as you desire.

The sooner you hear what I have to say about current markets, the better you’ll be able to cash in on perhaps the best investing opportunity since 1982.

Tens of thousands have paid up to $999 to attend.

In 2018 I celebrate my 52nd anniversary in the investing business and 50th year of writing about global investing. Our reports and seminars have helped readers have better lives, with less stress yet make fortunes during up and down markets for decades. This information is invaluable to investors large and small because even small amounts can easily be invested in the good value shares we cover in our seminar.

Stock and currency markets are cyclical. These cycles create extra profit for value investors who invest when everyone else has the markets wrong. One special seminar session looks at how to spot value from cycles. Stocks rise from the cycle of war, productivity and demographics. Cycles create recurring profits. Economies and stock markets cycle up and down around every 15 to 20 years as shown in this graph.

The effect of war cycles on the US Stock Market since 1906.

Bull and bear cycles are based on cycles of human interaction, war, technology and productivity. Economic downturns can create war.

The chart above shows the war – stock market cycle. Military struggles (like the Civil War, WWI, WWII and the Cold War: WW III) super charge inventiveness that creates new forms of productivity…the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, production line processes, jet engines, TV, farming techniques, plastics, telephone, computer and lastly during the Cold War, the internet. The military technology shifts to domestic use. A boom is created that leads to excess. Excess leads to correction. Correction creates an economic downturn and again to war.

Details in the online seminar include:

* How to easily buy global currencies, shares and bonds.

* Trading down and the benefits of investing in real estate in Small Town USA. We will share why this breakout value is special and why we have been recommending good value real estate in this area since 2009.

* What’s up with gold and silver? One session looks at my current position on gold and silver and asset protection. We review the state of the precious metal markets and potential problems ahead for US dollars. Learn how low interest rates eliminate opportunity costs of diversification in precious metals and foreign currencies.

* How to improve safety and increase profit with leverage and staying power. The seminar reveals Warren Buffett’s value investing strategy from research published at Yale University’s website. This research shows that the stocks Buffet chooses are safe (with low beta and low volatility), cheap (value stocks with low price-to-book ratios), and high quality (stocks of companies that are profitable, stable, growing, and with high payout ratios). His big, extra profits come from leverage and staying power. At times Buffet’s portfolio, as all value portfolios, has fallen, but he has been willing and able to wait long periods for the value to reveal itself and prices to recover.

This chart based on a 45 year portfolio study shows that holding a diversified good value portfolio (based on a good value strategy) for 13 month’s time, increases the probability of out performance to 70%. However those who can hold the portfolio for five years gain a 88% probability of beating the bellwether in the market and after ten years the probability increases to 97.5%.

Time is your friend when you use a good value strategy. The longer you can hold onto a well balanced good value portfolio, the better the odds of outstanding success.

Learn how much leverage to use. Leverage is like medicine, the key is dose.The best ratio is normally 1.6 to 1. We’ll sum up the strategy; how to leverage cheap, safe, quality stocks and for what period of time based on the times and each individual’s circumstances.

Learn to plan in a way so you never run out of money. The seminar also has a session on the importance of having and sticking to a plan. See how success is dependent on conviction, wherewithal, and skill to operate with leverage and significant risk. Learn a three point strategy based on my 50 years of investing experience combined with wisdom gained from some of the world’s best investment managers and economic mathematical scientists.

The online seminar also reveals the results of a $80,000 share purchase cost test that found the least expensive way to invest in good value. The keys to this portfolio are good value, low cost, minimal fuss and bother. Plus a great savings of time. Trading is minimal, usually not more than one or two shares are bought or sold in a year. I wanted to find the very least expensive way to create and hold this portfolio so I performed this test.

I have good news about the cost of the seminar as well. For almost three decades the seminar fee has been $799 for one or $999 for a couple. Tens of thousands paid this price, but online the seminar is $297.

In this special offer, you can get this online seminar FREE when you subscribe to our Personal investing Course.

Save $468.90 If You Act Now

Subscribe to the first year of The Personal investing Course (Pi). The annual fee is $299, but to introduce you to this online, course that is based on real time investing, I am knocking $102 off the subscription. Plus you receive FREE the $29.95 report “Three Currency Patterns for 50% Profits or More”, the $39.95 report “Silver Dip 2017” and our latest $297 online seminar for a total savings of $468.90.

Triple Guarantee

Enroll in Pi. Get the basic training, the 46 market value report, access to all the updates of the past two years, the two reports and the Value Investing Seminar right away.

#1: I guarantee you’ll learn ideas about investing that are unique and can reduce stress as they help you enhance your profits through slow, worry free, easy diversified investing.

If you are not totally happy, simply let me know.

#2: I guarantee you can cancel your subscription within 60 days and I’ll refund your subscription fee in full, no questions asked.

#3: You can keep the two reports and Value Investing Seminar as my thanks for trying.

You have nothing to lose except the fear. You gain the ultimate form of financial security as you reduce risk and increase profit potential.

Sunrise at our North Carolina farm. We diversify because the sun always shines somewhere.

Pure capitalistic theory says that in the long run… a global economy is good for everyone….overall.

Technology gives us the ability to buy from those who serve us best, wherever they are in the world. Why should we buy poorer quality goods locally at a higher price when someone from elsewhere can serve us better and for less.

Plus if we produce something better than anyone else we should be able to sell our product or service anywhere in the world as well.

Floridians and Californians buy apples from Oregon and North Carolina.

Oregonians and North Carolinians buy oranges from Florida or California because these areas each have special advantages… excellent conditions to produce and deliver those fruits clear across a continent, better and for less.

The theory of globalization is good but the process is not smooth. Globalization creates unemployment in many places and distorts many economies in the short term. This usually pushes the process into the political arena and gets governments involved. Governments often act based on political considerations rather than for good, long term economic reasons.

Plus business if given a chance… does not always encourage a free economy either. Give big business a monopoly and they’ll tie up free trade even faster and much more efficiently than a government.

There is little, as businesses or investors, that we can do do to change these facts.

We are usually better off to adapt and take advantage of whatever situation exists instead.

This is what creates power in diversification.

Sunrise at our Ecuador hacienda.

The sun always shines somewhere. When our business and investments are diversified, we just have a better chance that our investments and business will be somewhere where there the business climate is sunny.

For example… a recent message Ecuador Beats Inflation looked atexcerpts from a recent AOL.Money article by Jim Kuhnhenn entitled “White House Projects $9 Trillion Deficit”: In a chilling forecast, the White House is predicting a 10-year federal deficit of $9 trillion — more than the sum of all previous deficits since America’s founding. And it says by the next decade’s end the national debt will equal three-quarters of the entire U.S. economy. But before President Barack Obama can do much about it, he’ll have to weather recession aftershocks including unemployment that his advisers said Tuesday is still heading for 10 percent. Overall, White House and congressional budget analysts said in a brace of new estimates that the economy will shrink by 2.5 to 2.8 percent this year even as it begins to climb out of the recession. Those estimates reflect this year’s deeper-than-expected economic plunge.

Yet at the same time a Wall Street Journal article entitled “Ecuador Inflation To End ’09 Below 4%” By Mercedes Alvaro shows that Ecuador’s economy is growing. Here is an excerpt: QUITO (Dow Jones)–Ecuador’s inflation rate will end 2009 below 4% and the economy will grow close to 2% this year, President Rafael Correa said Wednesday.

“The annualized inflation will be below 4%,” Correa said late Wednesday in a radio and TV address. “There is not recession. Ecuador will have a growth of about 2%.” “We have faced the biggest world crisis successfully,” Correa added. Early Wednesday the central bank said the Ecuadorian economy overall is poised to expand 1% in 2009. Ecuador’s gross domestic product grew 6.52% in 2008 while inflation reached 8.83%. According to central bank data, Ecuador’s liquid international reserves stood at $4.0 billion as of Aug. 21. Last week, the central bank president, Carlos Vallejo, said that the government will repatriate in the coming days some $300 million of Ecuador’s liquid reserves invested abroad. Ecuador’s liquid international reserves include public-sector deposits with the central bank, revenues from oil exports, loans from multilateral lenders and minimum reserve requirements from private banks. In May, the central bank established a liquidity requirement forcing private banks to keep at least 45% of their assets and investments in Ecuador to draw back cash and boost domestic liquidity.

Sunrise on…

Sunrise over Mount Imbabura.

Because I am diversified in Ecuador, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina, in 2007, I was selling Florida property at the top of the market. I was buying Ecuador real estate with those returns. Now that Florida is down and Ecuador real estate has risen, I am selling Ecuador real estate and buying in Florida.

A huge portion of all profits in business and investing come from timing. Most commodity, stock and real estate markets go through ups and downs. If you plan your investments and liquidity so you sell only at favorable times, global investing diversification enhances your chances of always having assets someplace where there is a seller’s market.

Sunrise shot from our hotel Meson de las Flores.

So when you think Ecuador… or Mexico or Panama… or wherever…. also thing diversification. The sun always shines somewhere and your changes of financial suntans increase when you diversify.

Gary

The greatest asset of all is the ability to labor at what you love wherever you live. This brings everlasting wealth.

Our emailed course “Tangled Webs We Weave – How to Have Your Own Web Based Business” is a continuing educational program. You receive the first 28 lessons when you enroll and a new lesson every week or two.

This course teaches how to create a web based business and is developed from the ongoing experiences that we have from our successful and profitable internet business.

This course is well worth the enrollment fee of $299… but currently you also receive two additional courses FREE.

The other two courses are #1: International Business Made EZ, and #2: Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher.

These two courses have sold for $398 and thousands have paid this price. We add them to your course, at no added cost, as I believe they will help you develop a better business in these crucial times..

Even Better Get All three Courses Free

To make this offer even more compelling, I am giving everyone who enrolls in our North Carolina or Ecuador International Business & Investing seminar in October or November all three courses, “Tangled Web… How to Have an Internet Business Course,” “Self Fulfilled- How to be a Self Publisher” and “International Business Made EZ” free.

We always conduct our autumn North Carolina course on the first weekend of October… the best time to enjoy the leaf change.

Join us with Jyske Bank and my webmaster David Cross in West Jefferson North Carolina. Learn more about global investing, & how to have an international business at the seminar.

Yesterday’s message on lifestyle and Ecuador diversification was really backed up by Uncle Sam quickly!

Whether you retire in Ecuador or anywhere outside your home.. you want diversification. See why below!

One benefit of retiring in Ecuador is that it can help the poor there.

Yesterday’s article worried about weather change being called a threat to national security and wondered if this concept could further erode human rights.

I never imagined the very next day we would have even more concern… yet an article by James Risen in the New York Times entitled: “U.S. to Hunt Down Afghan Drug Lords Tied to Taliban” must give us pause.

Here is an excerpt: WASHINGTON — Fifty Afghans believed to be drug traffickers with ties to the Taliban have been placed on a Pentagon target list to be captured or killed, reflecting a major shift in American counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan, according to a Congressional study to be released this week.

United States Marines on a recent raid in Helmand Province. Under a new policy, drug traffickers are subject to being killed.

United States military commanders have told Congress that they are convinced that the policy is legal under the military’s rules of engagement and international law. They also said the move is an essential part of their new plan to disrupt the flow of drug money that is helping finance the Taliban insurgency.

Part of our work at Meson de las Flores was to continue a policy at our hotel to feed the poor. We always keep a pot of nutritious stew on the stove and our less fortunate are welcome any time of the day. Above is one of our regular guests.

The problem is that the erosion of rights creeps upon us in small steps… like income tax.When to raise revenue to fund the Civil War, an income tax was introduced in the United States with the Revenue Act of 1861. It was a flat rate tax of 3% on annual income above $800.

When the idea was contested on concerns that the tax, once established, would grow, one Congressman stated that there was no way the population would let the tax ever be higher than 3%. Yet a year later flat tax this was replaced with a graduated tax of 3-5% on income above $600 in the Revenue Act of 1862.

This act made tax temporary ending in 1866. Regretfully, perhaps, in 1866, income tax collections reached their highest point ever, over $310 million. This made the tax popular and today we can see the effects of the small steps… one freedom eroded at a time.

So where does the legal right to kill drug dealers lead? If it is legal to kill Afghan drug dealers to disrupt the flow of drug money that finance insurgency, what about drug dealers in Mexico that are financing insurgency in the US? Can we kill them too? If so, how about if we catch them in the US, can we kill them there? If so what if they are US citizens or residents? Can we still kill them? Can the army become involved… in the name of national security? Do they have to check a person’s passport before they shoot the drone at them?

These are tough calls, but somehow making it legal for the army to kill non combatants seems like a small step in the wrong direction.

Merri and I visiting a village that our foundation supports… helping the old and supporting the young by improving their school. This is a fulfilling retirement activity.

Yet loss of rights is not the only reason we might want to live or retire in Ecuador or elsewhere, full or part time, for diversification.

The rising cost of living makes it difficult to retire in the West. Plus though taxes are rising… benefits for those who retire are not.

A recent BBC article “Pension age could rise further” shows how the rot in England has grown. An excerpt says: The state pension retirement age could be increased further, the UK’s pensions regulator has told the BBC.

David Norgrove said rising life expectancy meant millions of people would “undoubtedly” have to wait longer in future to draw a state pension.

People will not save as much for retirement as in the past, with many people “frightened” to do so, he said.

The state pension age is due to rise to 68, and Pensions Minister Angela Eagle said there were no plans to raise that.

Currently, the state pension age is 60 for women and 65 for men, but four years ago Lord Turner published a report calling for it to rise to 68 for everyone by 2044.

But Mr Norgrove said he thought it would end up higher.

Mr Norgrove said: “People are going to have to work longer, partly because we’re not going, as a nation, to save as much for retirement as we did in the past.”He added: “The government’s recent legislation is increasing the state retirement age progressively to 68. I think it will end up higher than that.”

Another reason to retire in Ecuador is that business opportunity seems to be rising there as it falls in the north.

A recent USA Today article. “Business bankruptcies up 240% since 2006”, by Christine Dugas outlines a US retirement and lifestyle problem. Here is an excerpt of that article:

Entrepreneurship and new small businesses are supposed to lead us out of the recession, just as they have in prior downturns, right? Sure.

Your neighbor’s grand idea will persuade a bank to lend her start-up money; she’ll open for business in six weeks; and money will immediately flow from customers to her to her employees. Taxes will be paid, and the national economic engine will hum effortlessly in no time. If only.

Today shows a different reality: Commercial bankruptcies are surging. Fewer people are starting small businesses, and firms already open are struggling under changing consumer habits, a lack of funding options and tougher bankruptcy laws. If a nationwide trend seen since January holds true, more than 300 businesses will file for bankruptcy today alone.

The first five months of this year have shown a 52% increase in the total number of commercial bankruptcy filings (36,106) compared with the same period last year (23,829), according to the Automated Access to Court Electronic Records. On average thus far in 2009, some 350 commercial enterprises file for bankruptcy daily an increase of 240% from 2006, the first year after the bankruptcy law was changed.

Major corporate failures, like GM and Chrysler, flash across front pages and websites. But the vast majority of commercial bankruptcies, which are not separated by size of firm by data keepers, are filed by entrepreneurs and small-business owners, says Robert Lawless, professor of law at University of Illinois.

Troubling for the economy, say Lawless and Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association, is the double-whammy of fewer start-ups and increasing bankruptcies.

“In the past, small-business formation increased in a recession because people had self-employment thrust upon them,” he says. “One avenue out of economic hard times self-employment has become less attractive, because the bankruptcy law is less forgiving” and there are fewer options for those entrepreneurs to get bank loans or to find funding elsewhere.

Small business is considered the backbone of the economy. In the past, new businesses led economic recoveries, McCracken says. Small businesses those with fewer than 500 employees make up half of the gross domestic product and account for most job growth.

Problems from the devastated housing market, overall recession and suffering major industries all funnel down to small businesses, especially those that supply the troubled corporations.

Household spending cutbacks reach far, too. Dual-income families who are now single-income may no longer need or be able to afford child care, so many of those services are going out of business, says Lester Thompson, a bankruptcy lawyer in Dayton. Sporting goods stores and lawn-mowing services also have struggled.

Small-business bankruptcy filings jumped the most in the Los Angeles and Chicago metro areas, according to Equifax. But even smaller areas of the country are experiencing a big increase.

Many small businesses owe so much money to creditors that there is no future. Such owners often file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and shut their businesses for good.

The credit crunch is a major contributor to the rise in filings.

Loan dollar volume from the U.S. Small Business Administration has increased 35% since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed on Feb. 17, according to the SBA. Even so, a National Federation of Independent Business trend report states that in May the percentage of business owners reporting that loans are harder to get rose to 16%, the highest reading since the 1980-82 recession.

With that reality, and loath to dip into their retirement savings, struggling small-business owners have few options other than bankruptcy. When the bankruptcy law changed in 2005 it was mostly aimed at curbing abuse of personal bankruptcy filing. But it also singled out small businesses for harsher treatment, and those changes did not apply to larger corporations, Lawless says.

Bankruptcy is still the only option for many small-business owners who are hanging by a thread.

This is why the idea of living or retiring in Ecuador or elsewhere, at least part time, for diversification and global earning potential makes sense because opportunity is growing elsewhere.

Nothing makes our retirement problems diminish faster than helping those who have even greater needs.

An excerpt from a recent Wall Street Journal article “Ecuador’s Business Confidence Index Up” by Mercedes Alvaro says: QUITO (Dow Jones)–Ecuador’s Business Confidence Index, measured by Deloitte and Touche, surged 5% in May to 93.2 points, compared with May 2008, the company said in its monthly report.

Deloitte said the index recovered by 31% in May against April, returning to the levels registered during the last quarter of 2008.

The Index’ recovery is largely due to the waning perception among executives of a deterioration of the country’s economic and political conditions, it said.

Deloitte found that 45% of those surveyed are less optimistic about the economy compared with April, while 52% perceive no change.

The slow but steady increase in oil prices and the revival of the global economy are grounds for expecting that the economy in Ecuador could improve by year’s end or in early 2010.

Questioned about the performance of their businesses, 34% said they had lower sales compared to the previous months and 39% reported revenues down on the same period of last year.

The survey found 20% reported a reduction in their workforce compared to the previous month.

Around 57% of the business leaders surveyed said that the country’s socio-economic situation makes it difficult to attract foreign investment.

We can see below why diversification remains important even if we retire in Ecuador.

Just because we want to live or retire in Ecuador does not mean that Ecuador does not have its own creeping erosion of rights problems as well. An August 3 news.Yahoo article says: Correa: Ecuador to take over radio, TV stations. QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa says “many” radio and TV frequencies will revert to state control due to what he’s calling irregularities. The president has been at war with Ecuador’s news media since taking office in January 2007. He has called TV stations and newspapers corrupt and mediocre, and twice fined an opposition broadcaster. Correa did not specify Monday what sort of abuses or irregularities broadcasters have committed. Nor did he name any alleged offenders.

An August 5th update on this matter in the Wall Street Journal says: Ecuador Govt Braces For Reaction To Radio, TV Takeovers

QUITO (Dow Jones)–Ecuador’s government is expecting “strong reactions” to a report that will determine which television and radio stations will revert to state control.

Antonio Garcia, chairman of Ecuador’s National Radio and Television Board, said Wednesday that a report will be issued next week on which stations the government will take over.

President Rafael Correa’s government has alleged that a number of stations received their broadcasting concessions illegitimately and said that “many” would revert to state hands.

Correa’s announcement came on the heels of the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the Ecuadorian president’s close ally, shutting down 34 privately-owned radio stations last weekend.

An initial report by an Ecuadorian government commission last year found that 236 of 1,637 frequencies had obtained their concessions illegally.

Garcia brushed off what he called “alarmist accounts” that all radio and television stations will revert to state control and that the government is looking at them on a case-by-case basis.”

He said that some media outlets, however, are “trying to misinform” viewers and listeners.

A clear mind and healthy body are also a vital assets… plus a second language is a powerful diversification tool.

This is why I am willing to pay you $300 to attend either our Ecuador Super Thinking plus Spanish seminar in September or our North Carolina International Business & Investing seminar in October. Sign up for either seminar and I will email you our Tangled Web… How to Have an Internet Business Course (offered at $299) free plus I’ll knock an extra dollar off your seminar fee…. to round up the $300 savings.

See details of the two seminar below.

Here is Thomas Fischer talking with seminar delegates at a recent international investing course that I co hosted with Jyske Global Asset Management.

Join Merri, Thomas Fischer of JGAM, our webmaster David Cross and me in North Carolina this October and enroll in our emailed course on how to have a web business free. Save $300.

Learn more about global investing, how to have an international business and diversification in Ecuador at the seminar.

Ecuador and international earning potential in business offers great freedom.

The 4th of July, America’s day to celebrate freedom, is a good day to remind ourselves of how freedom can bring anyone and everyone opportunity now.

Internet based export businesses are a way to develop International income potential.

I am happy to report, that freedom in America is not dead. America’s independence, in my opinion, has improved and evolved. Yankee ingenuity has used technology to enhance the business mobility that has often given America a leading business edge.

Textiles for export

that we…

saw on our…

Ecuador tour.

This spirit of Americans moving to “where the action is” was epitomized in Horace Greeley’s famous quote, “Go west, young man.”

In fact Greeley himself was a reflection of this mobility-for-better-circumstances ideal.

He was born the son of a New England farmer and day laborer in New Hampshire. The economic struggles of his family meant that Greeley received a spotty education. When he could not find enough work and seeking to better his circumstances, he set out for New York City and eventually founded the New Yorker and later the New York Tribune.

Willingness to keep moving for progress has always been the American way. In less mobile times this mobility worked from state to state. Now it moves from nation to nation.

At a time when US earning potential may seem diminished, it should be no surprise that Americans are on the move finding opportunities all over the world.

Jewelry for export.

Leather products for export.

Why should American earning mobility be limited to just the borders of the USA?

The original concept of many united states was that we lived in the land of the free and could move to whatever state that offered the best opportunity. With modern technology, why not spread this mobility beyond the oceans and Canadian and Mexican borders?

Big businesses in America have certainly not limited their efforts within American borders. Almost every major US corporation, manufactures or outsources work globally. American corporations go where opportunity is best.

Now small businesses can use the internet to be global as well.

I see many Americans finding good earning potential in Ecuador. I expect this is taking place around the world.

The real factors that make Americans free… willingness to work… try new innovations… cross social and cultural lines… take risk and trying new things works anywhere and are a state of mind and attitude… not a place… or a date.

This is the American way… serve… work harder… be better… do more for others. This works… an attitude that gives anyone, anywhere, who uses it an edge.

This is why one finds American entrepreneurs thriving in Ecuador and anywhere one travels… Americans and the American spirit are global… successful… and free.

Today let’s celebrate more than just a day of declaration of freedom. Let’s rejoice in a universal truth that freedom is something within us all. Freedom is not a condition but an energy available to any and everyone with desire and willingness to work and serve wherever the opportunity opens. That’s the spirit of the American way.

Merri and I send our best wishes that each and every reader will always be free!

Gary

Join us in North Carolina at our July seminar and learn how the internet era can help you increase your freedom with your own global internet business operated from Ecuador or anywhere.

At the seminar we look at how to get good rankings for your business.

For example our Garyascott.com and Ecuadorliving.com sites have first page Google rankings for many Ecuador search phrases including the phrase “Ecuador Banking” and…

and “Ecuador Attorney”.

plus many others like “Ecuador Real Estate”, “Ecuador Beach Property”, “Ecuador Exports”, and many many more.

At our seminar we’ll study how to get and monetize rankings.

Our rankings do so well, that according to Alexa.com our garyascott.com site’s traffic rank is in the top 20,000 US sites. Out of tens of millions. Here is a recent Alexa report.

Our webmaster David Cross will join us at the July seminar. David is chief internet consultant to some of the largest internet marketing companies in the world.

The July seminar will focus on the essence of a successful internet business, plus those who attend this course can have our emailed course “Tangled Webs We Weave, How to Have Your Own Internet Business” FREE. (or you can choose our email course on multi currency investing instead). You save $299.

This seminar is July 24 to 26 here in the green and cool North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains.

Half this course is about international investing and Thomas Fischer at Jyske Global Asset Management helps me conduct this portion of the course. The other half is about how to develop your own business. Merri and David help me with this.

Here is a special offer. If you enroll in the July 24 to July 26 course, I sign you up for one of our two emailed courses free. This is up to a $299 savings.

Join me and Thomas Fischer from Jyske Global Asset Management in North Carolina to learn more about economic trends and David Cross our webmaster to learn how to have a global internet business.

We’ll have lunch at the farm and enjoy the cool summer mountains. Here’s a shot of our front yard.

Thomas Fisher speaking to our delegates at the farm.

Delegates enjoying a private conversation with Thomas Fischer during a coffee break at the farm.

Join Merri and me with Thomas Fischer of Jyske Global Asset Management and our webmaster David Crossin North Carolina July 24-26 IBEZ North Carolina

Read the entire article Business bankruptcies up 240% since 2006 at www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20090701/smallbiz01_cv.art.htm

Read the entire article Ecuador’s Business Confidence Index Up at online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090630-711211.html

An Ecuador beach condo party could create a free Galapagos tour for you.

There has been a lot of bad economic news the last year.

A New York Times headline last week announced:

U.S. Economy Contracted at 3.8% Annual Pace in Fourth Quarter

Though the Commerce Department’s preliminary figure for gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 2008 showed the greatest decline in more than 26 years, economists had forecast much worse.

The bad news is not for everyone. Life is good down here on the Equator. A recent message Ecuador Business Passion explained why our Ecuador business is growing by leaps and bounds almost every month.

So it is not a great surprise that I can now announce that the Vistaazul Ecuador beach condo project is sold out…almost.

Originally the project was planned for 62 units at three price levels.

We announced this a year ago and as of yesterday all, but two of the low priced units were sold… and the two had been sold… but the economic correction has caused some buyers to back out.

This calls for a celebration and in fact Vistazul owners get to participate in an almost unbelievable celebration. I’ll explain in a moment. First let me share one more opportunity.

Merri and I have have spent the last week relaxing at Vistazul. While there, I spent considerable time with the developer and owner of the project Kjetil Haugan.

When Kjetil began this development a year ago, our advice was that readers would be especially interested, if he could keep the price for a 1,200 square foot unit with beach views below $80,000.

He followed that recommendation and we were right. The entire project was purchased almost entirely by our readers.

So while on this trip, Kjetil listened to two more recommendations we made which were:

#1: Hold off on the higher elevation higher priced units…for now.Building costs are higher on the upper units and I believe the success at Vistaazul has come from keeping prices affordable.

#2: Build more of the lower priced $79,000 units. Prices, due to inflation, have risen and recent units were offered at $84,900. However there was space for five more units at a lower level (but nearer the beach).

He agreed. Keeping with the plan of spacious and lush gardens did not give Kjetil much additional room…but he has added five more condos….and dropped the price to $79,000.

Here is the site plan. Please excuse the rough sketch but I wanted you to understand what is happening. This sketch is all I have.

This leaves seven units for sale..the two not sold and the five new Kjetil has added which will be block six.

Let me walk you around the project so you can tie the units and progress to the sketch above.

Here is a shot from the Palmazul hotel which is also the condo development’s clubhouse which sits right on the beach.

The first building you see on the left is block one… seven units in all. Merri and I have units in each block. Unit 102 is ours. Units 103 and 104 belong to our daughters, Fran and Ele. This block is 133 steps to the beach…just a bit over the distance of a football field. I counted the steps myself to see.

Here is a close up of block one from the front.

from the back.

Block one is finished, waiting only for final trim and landscaping.

The block you see behind and slightly to the right is Block 5.

Here is block five in more detail…about 75% complete.

Merri and I have block 503.

Block three, like block one, is mostly done. Here is block three.

Merri and I have unit 303 and 305. We are getting ready to furnish these for rental along with units 102-103 and 104.

Block four is in the rear of the project and is about 25% complete. Here it is. Merri and I have block 403.

Block two (we have unit 207) and the new block six are about to begin. Kjetil has a crew coming in to finish and the balance of the project will take nine months. Two units in block two are unsold and now there will be the five new units in block six. This will create a project of 38 units in total.

There is also a re sale available… but this is priced a bit higher…as you can see below.

Now for the celebration… and the condo owners have quite a bit to celebrate… an entire project started, sold out in a year and targeted for completion nine months from now. A success in the worst economic times in decades.

Kjetil and his wife not only own the Vistaazul project and the Palmazul Hotel (which is also the Vistazul clubhouse)… they also are the largest Galapagos tour agents and own two amazing Galapagos cruise boats. See Haugan Cruises to see their vessels.

An eight day tour on these luxury Catamarans costs as much as $4,390 and a four day cruise $2,230.

Condos owners are lucky because to celebrate the success at Vistaazul Kjetil is giving a four day party… on his boat… in the Galapagos… FREE to condo owners.

We are not sure of the date yet. The normal price of such a tour is $2,230. Yet Kjetil has set aside his yacht Athala for four days and is inviting condo owners (one person per condo owned) to enjoy the this Galapagos cruise. This is a $2,230 savings.

Buyers of the last six units can also join the party.

There are no tricks either. These cruises include all meals, all guided trips, soft drinks, coffee, etc.

There is even more. Kjetll knows that not every owner can come on the dates that will be set… Those who cannot will not have to miss the party either. Kjetil will provide them… on a space available basis… with a free four day Galapagos cruise as well.

That is value… a condo just yards (I stepped this off. Unit one is 133 steps to the beach) from the beach… $79,000. Club membership in Palmazul… normally $5,000… waived… plus a free Galapagos cruise.

Kjetil can be reached at kjetil@haugancruises.com

I have mentioned before…but want to add once more that I have no financial interest in Palmazul or Vistazul other than as property owner myself. I am not paid a commission nor any financial remuneration for the sale of these units. I am an condo owner myself and gain as the project becomes more popular. Otherwise I gain no compensation whatsoever when these units are sold.

Today, December 15, 2009, we’ll know for sure if Ecuador has defaulted on some of its bonds. Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa threatened to do this once before…and did not.

This time I believe he will.

This will be good…for many…because despite the default, Ecuador’s sun will not go away.

Nor will the beauty of Ecuador’s mountains like this one we climbed.

Nor will it stop the smiles of Ecuador’s happy people like these potato farmers we met on the hike.

Nor will the hard working energy of the crafts people in town like Otavalo (shown here) cease.

Nor the richness of the land like this Intag forest go away.

Nor will the wonder of the longevity valleys like this Intag plain end.

Ecuador’s bond default may create profits in two ways….one in the global bond market. The other gain will be in Ecuador.

Many readers have sent me a link to last week’s Bloomberg December 12, 2009 article by Stephan Kueffner which says:

Correa Defaults on Ecuador Bonds, Seeks Restructuring. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa halted payment on foreign bonds he calls “illegal” and “illegitimate,” putting the South American country in default for a second time in a decade.

The government won’t make a $30.6 million interest payment by Dec. 15, when a month long grace period expires, Correa told reporters in his office in Guayaquil. The $510 million bonds due in 2012 plunged to 23 cents on the dollar from 31 yesterday and 97.5 cents three months ago.

“I have given the order that interest payments not be made,” Correa said. “The country is in default.”

Though Ecuador is a small country, the size of France, with about 11 million people, its bond default may slow the recovery of the bond market during this global economic downturn.

Latin Bonds already have strong yields. Look at the high yields on medium term denominated in US euro and US dollars!

Currency Bond Country Yield

EUR 8.5 24/09/2012 BRAZIL 7.49%

EUR 7.375 03/02/2015 BRAZIL 8.38%

EUR 11.5 31/05/2011 COLOMBIA 8.17%

EUR 5.375 10/06/2013 MEXICO 7.28%

EUR 7.5 14/10/2014 PERU 9.02%

USD 10.25 17/06/2013 BRAZIL 6.24%

USD 8.25 22/12/2014 COLOMBIA 7.42%

USD 9.875 06/02/2015 PERU 7.57%

Ecuador owes about $10 billion to bondholders, multilateral lenders and other countries…not a lot by global standards…but Ecuador’s bond default could cause a ripple down in Latin bonds and create even higher yields. If so, I’ll buy some today.

The bonds and yields above are from Jyske Bank’s bond list of last Friday. These are indications not recommendations. You can get up-to-date bond information from:

The next opportunity is in Ecuador. Many readers have asked questions like:

Ecuador is defaulting on its bonds. Any problems because of this? Is this good or bad?

This is a question much like, “Is the US federal $800 billion bail out, good or bad?”

The answer is yes and no.

First, remember that Ecuador defaulted on bonds once before in 1999. Everything fell apart. Bank’s shut down. The country ran out of gas. Times were terrible.

The country remained a great place to live. The cost of living collapsed. Help was easy to get. You could buy real estate for a song. So the answer to “Is this good or bad?” depends on who you are, how much money you have and where it is invested.

The Bloomberg article points out that Correa says of the default:

“I couldn’t allow the continued payment of a debt that by all measures is immoral and illegitimate,” Correa said. “It is now time to bring in justice and dignity.”

A debt commission Correa formed last year said in a 172 page report in November that the global bonds due in 2012 and 2030 “show serious signs of illegality,” including issuance without proper government authorization. Correa invoked the 30- day grace period on the interest payment last month, saying he wanted to analyze the commission’s findings.

Correa, 45, said the government will present a restructuring proposal in coming days. “We want creditors to recoup part of their money,” he said.

Personally I think this is true, but is the wrong approach. I have long been a defender of Correa. He is much like Barrack Obama, young, smart, energetic, from a poor background, who worked his way to the top with a mandate made possible by minorities….based on promises that probably cannot be kept.

He is trying to make improvements..but can he?

Obama cannot change the previous American debt and some of that US debt, in my opinion, is as immoral and illegitimate as can be. If previous Ecuadorian politicians broke the law and created incorrect loans…Correa and the people of Ecuador should punish them. They should recoup what they can from those people…but to punish lenders will simply stop lenders from lending to Ecuador. This will hurt the nation, long term, as a whole.

The Bloomberg article goes on to say:

“Ecuador is moving further into isolation,” said Vicente Albornoz, head of the Cordes research institute in Quito. “The hardliners in the government won.”

“Ecuador is a serial defaulter,” said Arturo Porzecanski, an international finance professor at American University in Washington. “They defaulted in the 1980s, 1990s and this decade. A lot of other countries have had one or two defaults, but Ecuador tops them all.”

Correa, who holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has said he will not sacrifice spending on health and education to pay the debt. Ecuador’s foreign obligations are equal to 21 percent of its $44 billion gross domestic product. Argentina’s debt, by comparison, was equivalent to 150 percent of its GDP when it defaulted in 2001, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Oil, which has plunged 67 percent since July amid the global financial crisis, accounts for about 60 percent of Ecuador’s exports. Finance Minister, Maria Elsa Viteri, said on Nov. 18 the country’s fiscal accounts remain “strong and healthy.” Ecuador had $5.65 billion in cash reserves as of Dec. 5, according to the Central Bank.

The default was triggered by the combination of the decline in oil with “a ridiculous ideology,” said Claudio Loser, the former director of the International Monetary fund’s Western Hemisphere department, who now is a scholar at the Inter- American Dialogue. “The financial need wasn’t so great that it was forced to declare a default,” Loser said.

The South American country has defaulted six times since it separated from Gran Colombia in 1830, according to “Debt Defaults and Lessons from a Decade of Crises,” a book published in 2007 by Federico Sturzenegger and Jeromin Zettelmeyer.

“It’s a final blow to external investors, and particularly any energy investors that may have retained interest or had future plans to attempt an investment in Ecuador,” said Enrique Alvarez, head of Latin America fixed-income research at IDEAglobal Inc. in New York.

I believe this default will hurt Ecuador’s overall economy…and help expats who live and invest there in small ways. When economic conditions drop, prices become lower. Labor is easier to find. Everyone is more willing to serve and work hard…if you have money.

Merri and I were living in Ecuador when the sucre collapsed falling from 3,000 sucres per dollar to 24,000 sucres per dollar. This roller coaster reduced the cost of food, clothing, shelter, staff, everything local. Wages were down. Bargains were everywhere!

Merri and I were loved because we stayed. We spent. We provided jobs.

Life can actually be better in hard times…especially if you have your income and investments OUT of the depressed country.

There is a caveat. If conditions deteriorate too far, law and order can break down. Short term this will make Ecuador’s life better. They won’t have the loan to repay…but long term, as they become more isolated from the global economy, this will hurt.

Ecuadorians are basically friendly, non violent people so I do not have any great concern about this. This is based on experience. I have lived in places where people were not quite as easy going, like Hong Kong in the 1960s when there were riots and bombing in the streets.

My belief if that Ecuador will remain a great place to be…especially for now.

Gary

Join us at a course in Cotacachi or on Ecuador’s coast this winter.

Here is our latest group inspecting the hotel,which is one block from the Ecuador’s Pacific.

We’ll view this hotel if it has not sold. It has a huge front porch.

Large second floor veranda with ocean views.

Beautiful flowered front yard.

The building is really rough and needs work…but over 8,000 square feet of building. The asking price is $60,000.

The course fee includes meeting at Quito airport (day before the course)…transportation (by group bus) to Cotacachi and back to Quito. Course fee does not include air are. accommodations, food or individual transportation.

One reason for this is that those who live a fulfilled, involved fun existence are likely to be healthier…with less need for expensive pharmaceuticals and medical treatment.

This makes life better plus can save huge amounts of cash.

This is likely to become even more important in the years ahead for those who live in much of the Western world. Existing medical systems are already filled with problems. Inflation and aging populations will make the problems even worse.

At the turn of the decade, The World Health Organization analyzed the world’s health systems. The WHO used five performance indicators to measure health systems in 191 member states.

The five performance indicators were:

* Fairness of financial contribution. While private health expenses in industrial countries now average only some 25 percent because of universal health coverage (except in the United States, where it is 56%), in India, families typically pay 80 percent of their health care costs as “out-of- pocket” expenses when they receive health care.

* Overall Level of Health.

* Distribution of Health in the Populations: the average level – goodness – and the smallest feasible differences among individuals and groups – fairness.

* Responsiveness: respect for persons including dignity, confidentiality and autonomy of individuals and families to decide about their own health as well as prompt attention and access to social support networks during care, quality of basic amenities and choice of provider.

* Distribution of Financing.

The study revealed that U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries. The United Kingdom, which spends just six percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on health services, ranks 18th. Several small countries – San Marino, Andorra, Malta and Singapore are rated close behind second- placed Italy.